Question

RNA polymerase and DNA polymerase differ in that

A) RNA polymerase uses RNA as a template, and DNA polymerase uses a DNA template.
B) RNA polymerase binds to single-stranded DNA, and DNA polymerase binds to double-stranded DNA.
C) RNA polymerase is much more accurate than DNA polymerase.
D) RNA polymerase can initiate RNA synthesis, but DNA polymerase requires a primer to initiate DNA synthesis.
E) RNA polymerase does not need to separate the two strands of DNA in order to synthesize an RNA copy, whereas DNA polymerase must unwind the double helix before it can replicate the DNA.

Answer 1

D) RNA polymerase can initiate RNA synthesis, but DNA polymerase requires a primer to initiate DNA synthesis.

Step-by-step explanation:

RNA polymerase is the enzyme which does not require any primer for intitiating RNA synthesis (transcription) from a template DNA strand unlike DNA polymerase. In order for DNA polymerase to initiate DNA synthesis (replication) a primer is an absolute necessity i.e. without primer, replication cannot start.

Apart from this, one more basic difference between RNA and DNA polymerase is that RNA polymerase has an inbuilt helicase activity for strand separation but DNA polymerase does not have that i.e. an additional, separate helicase enzyme is required during replication.